Women’s Shabbat held in Norway

June 25, 2007 9:00am

A rabbinical student translated a siddur into Norwegian for a women’s Shabbat retreat in Oslo.Lynn Claire Feinberg, a rabbinical student and cantor in the Jewish Renewal movement, led services for 13 women using a prayerbook she prepared that translated and transliterated the Hebrew into Norwegian. It is believed to be the first non-traditional siddur translated into Norwegian.Feinberg organized a similar gathering last summer in Norway, which has fewer than 2,000 Jews. The only two synagogues in the country are Orthodox and do not permit women to read from the Torah.Noting that there is no tradition of Progressive Judaism in Norway, Feinberg said her aim “is to gradually build a field where a more inclusive Judaism can emerge, bit by bit.”